Under the downward trend of the economy, the trade competition between countries has become more obvious, and the trade conflict has become more and more severe.
The sugar industry is not only a necessary material in the lives of ordinary people, but also an important part of the foreign trade market.
The annual output of edible sugar in the United States is as high as 8.42 million tons, so how much is China's annual edible sugar production? What is the difference between the per capita sugar intake of China and the United States?
1. Overview of the U.S. edible sugar market
For the U.S. market, it is currently one of the world's largest producers of edible sugar, and the United States mainly relies on edible sugar production technology, mainly using sugar beets to produce sugar.
Sugar beet is the main raw material for edible sugar production in the United States, accounting for more than 55% of the supply of edible sugar raw materials in the United States.
At present, the sugar beet cultivation area in the United States exceeds 7 million acres, which is basically widely distributed in the four northern states of the United States.
There are two main reasons why the United States is very respectful of sugar beet sugar.
One is that sugar beets are cheaper to produce sugar and have a very high yield, and the survival rate of sugar beet is superior to other sugar-producing crops.
The second reason for the aggressive promotion of sugar beet sugar production in the United States is due to the unique geography of the United States.
Farmland in the northern United States is more fertile, making it suitable for sugar beet cultivation and accumulating more sugar.
However, the relatively cold climate in the north is not suitable for the growth of traditional sugar-producing crops such as sugarcane, so sugar beet production is popular in the United States.
Moreover, in order to increase the sugar production of sugar beet, the United States also uses biological gene technology to transgenic sugar beets.
The higher yield of sugar beet sugar after genetic mutation can bring higher economic benefits and lower production costs to American farmers.
Since 2013, genetically modified sugar beets in the United States have been widely promoted and planted, and more than 99% of the current sugar beet planting market in the United States is genetically modified sugar beets, and natural sugar beets have disappeared.
In addition to sugar beet production, Florida and Louisiana in the southern United States have a large number of sugarcane farmland, producing a large amount of sugarcane as a raw material for sugar production.
Although sugarcane does not produce as much sugar as sugar beets, it also increases production for the U.S. sugar market.
The United States announced the latest annual production of table sugar, reaching a staggering 8.42 million tons, with this result successfully entered the top five in the world of table sugar production.
In recent years, the average production of edible sugar in the United States has been around 8.5 million tons.
China is also one of the world's top sugar producers, so how much does the mainland produce sugar every year, and which is better or worse than the United States?
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Second, the current situation of China's edible sugar market
The distribution of sugar markets in China and the United States is very different. China, for its part, does not rely on sugar beet production, and relies on more than 21 million acres of sugarcane farmland to supply more sugarcane.
Compared with the United States, China has more subtropical distribution in terms of geographical distribution, which makes the mainland more conducive to the production of tropical crops such as sugarcane.
The mainland has more than 21 million acres of sugarcane farmland in Yunnan and Guangzhou, thus providing sufficient sugarcane raw materials for China's edible sugar production.
In addition to sugarcane farmland, a large number of sugar beet crops are also grown on the black soil in the northeast of the mainland.
More than 3 million acres of sugar beet have been planted in Northeast China, which is an important part of the mainland's edible sugar raw materials.
However, the yield of sugarcane as a raw material for edible sugar is not enough to compete with sugar beets.
More than 80% of the edible sugar in the mainland is produced from sugar cane, which also leads to the fact that the sugar planting area in the mainland far exceeds that of the United States, and the production of edible sugar is almost the same as that of the United States.
According to the statistics of China's edible sugar production in 2023, the cumulative output of edible sugar in the country is 8.97 million tons, which is affected by natural conditions such as drought, compared with the edible sugar output in 2022, with a decline of about 6%.
Although the production of edible sugar in the mainland is higher than that in the United States, the amount of farmland planted in the raw materials of edible sugar in the mainland is larger, so the average yield per mu is not as good as that in the United States.
So why doesn't the mainland follow the American production method and promote the mass cultivation of genetically modified sugar beets?
The reason why the mainland does not carry out large-scale cultivation of genetically modified sugar beet is because of the safety of genetically modified crops.
Genetically modified sugar beets are affected by genetic changes, which lead to changes in their nutritional structure and nutrient composition.
Moreover, the latest research has shown that a large intake of genetically modified sugars will cause the ingesters to gain weight more easily, thus posing a threat to their health.
Moreover, although the research and development of genetically modified food has passed many years, the safety and reliability of genetically modified food has not been verified, and it is even more likely to cause allergic reactions and health risks in consumers.
Therefore, the mainland has not carried out large-scale planting and promotion of genetically modified crops from the beginning to the end.
In addition to being important producers of sugar in the world, China and the United States are also the world's two largest consumers of sugar.
Among them, China consumes 15.8 million tons of edible sugar every year, while the United States consumes 13 million tons, ranking first and second respectively in the list of edible sugar consumption in the world.
As a result, neither the United States nor China produces enough sugar to meet the basic needs of their own people, so they are also the world's major importers of sugar.
However, it is worth mentioning that although China and the United States are facing the problem of edible sugar imports, there is a world of difference in the urgency of the demand for edible sugar imports between the two countries, and the United States has a stronger demand for edible sugar imports.
So why is the United States, the world's second-largest demand for edible sugar, much higher than China's first-ranked demand for edible sugar?
3. Different market demands for edible sugar in China and the United States
Although the production and total consumption of edible sugar in China and the United States are almost the same, there is a world of difference in the average consumption of consumers in China and the United States.
The United States is the country with the largest per capita sugar consumption in the world, with an annual sugar consumption of more than 70kg per person, and even more than 200g of sugar per day.
This is due to the unique eating habits of the United States. The United States is the most popular country in the world for foods high in oil and sugar.
And in the minds of the American people, they don't realize that a diet high in sugar can cause serious damage to the body. In their minds, high-sugar and high-calorie foods and beverages are the best.
The reason why Americans have formed a high-oil and high-sugar diet is directly related to this development history.
After the arrival of the early colonists on the American continent, they brought with them European eating habits, and their daily diet plans revolved around high-calorie foods such as various sweets, thus forming the current high-oil and high-sugar diet.
Due to the habit of high sugar intake, there are currently more than 78 million people in the United States, and their body index BMI is overweight.
The total population of the United States is only about 338 million, which means that more than 35% of the American people are obese.
Moreover, in the distribution of obese people in the United States, there is also a clear class division.
Among them, the poorer the Americans, the higher the proportion of obesity, and the bottom group of nearly 40 million in the United States has a higher body index BMI, and the need for sugar in daily life is more urgent.
This is because for the American people, most of the people at the bottom are engaged in manual labor, so the physical consumption is huge, and high-calorie, high-sugar foods can achieve timely energy replenishment.
It is worth noting that serious excess sugar in food will lead to a series of diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes and other chronic diseases, and high sugar intake will also lead to obesity, and in severe cases, it may even lead to death from respiratory failure.
The international health organization's recommendation for the proportion of sugar in the daily diet is 10%, but in the United States the proportion is 42%, which is a serious excess.
Under the trend of uncontrolled sugar intake of the American people, the United States has been increasing the amount of international sugar imports to meet the needs of the people.
At present, the United States is growing in the amount of edible sugar imports, and it is becoming the world's largest importer of edible sugar in the future.
Compared with the American population, the Chinese people are very restrained in their consumption of edible sugar.
China's average annual consumption of edible sugar is only 11.28kg, and the reason why China is the world's largest consumer of edible sugar is due to the large base of the Chinese population.
But the mainland, like the United States, is also increasing the amount of international sugar imports, why is that?
The consumption of edible sugar by the mainland people is at a relatively stable level and will not grow rapidly in the short term, and the demand of the people is not the main reason for the increase in the import of edible sugar in the mainland.
The reason why the mainland has increased its international imports of edible sugar is that in addition to daily consumption, edible sugar can also be used as a strategic material in wartime, so it has strategic value.
In the context of the continuous international disputes, the mainland's increase in the import of edible sugar is also to cope with the untimely need for the outbreak of war caused by international disputes.
epilogue
China and the United States are major producers and consumers of edible sugar, with the United States producing an average of 8.42 million tons of edible sugar per year, while China's is 8.97 million tons.
The United States has increased its sugar imports to meet the increasingly urgent needs of the American people; The mainland has increased the import of edible sugar as a strategic material.
What do you want to say about the comparison between the production and consumption of edible sugar in China and the United States? Welcome to leave a message in the comment area to discuss.
Resources
Sina Finance Market Information May 25, 2024 "U.S. Department of Agriculture: Global Sugar Production Estimates China Produces 10.4 Million Tons of Sugar in 2024/25 Crushing Season"
Price and Cost Survey Center, 26 December 2023 "2022/23 Sugar Production Industry Operation and New Sugar Production Outlook"
Huajing Information Network April 8, 2024 "2023 China's Sugar Industry Status and Prospects (Production and Sales, Prices, Imports, Policies, Industrial Chain and Key Enterprises)"